Why the pain, what's the gain?
Subtitle: the quest for extreme fitness
By: Daniel Kunitz
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9781781312926; 9781781316108
Subjects: History; Physical fitness; Exercise; Psychological aspects
Other titles: Why the pain, what is the gain?
Description: Why the Pain? What's the Gain? takes you on a guided tour of humankind's 3000-year wayward search for the perfect workout; from the dirt courtyards of the ancient Greek gymnasium to the birth of the modern gym in 19th-century Paris; to the weekend, beachside Olympic-caliber gymnasts of Santa Monica and Sydney. Daniel Kunitz seeks the answer to a simple yet profound question: Why do we work out? We will listen in on the innovators and charlatans who lifted the multibillion-dollar business of gym-fitness into being. We will learn how the women's movement sparked an enormous exercise boom and tell the story not only of how we arrived at the big-box gym era but also of the last decade's acceleration into a new fitness frontier. Daniel Kunitz puts himself through the grit and pain of the cross fit, parkour and tough mudder regimes, searching not just for new-found physique, but on a quest to understand the pain and more precisely the gain of working out.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-304) and index.